Argentina is a land of contrasts, from the vast plains of the east to the Andes in the West where Aconcagua, the highest peak of the Western Hemisphere at 6,959 m, towers above the other mountains. The variety of landscape ranges from the high plateau of the Northwest –with its deserts, valleys, gorges, and brightly colored hills– to the lakes, forests, glaciers, steppe, mountains, and cliffs of Patagonia. From the wetlands, lagoons, waterfalls, and subtropical rainforest of the Northeast, to the expanse of flat Pampas in Buenos Aires Province and the rolling hills of Cordoba.